Guns On Campus Bill Clear First Hurdle
January 21, 2015
In the wake of a shooting on the Florida State University campus just a few miles away and after an hour of sometimes-emotional debate, a House panel Tuesday approved a bill that would allow concealed weapons to be carried at colleges and universities.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 8-4 along party lines to pass the measure (HB 4005), which would allow anyone with a concealed-carry permit to have a weapon — usually a firearm — on campus. Currently, people are banned from carrying such weapons at Florida colleges and universities, with the exception of stun guns or similar devices.
But Rep. Greg Steube, the Sarasota Republican sponsoring the bill, said the new measure would empower the likely small number of college students who have concealed-weapons licenses to defend themselves and their fellow students. Steube said only 2,271 of the state’s 21-year-olds have concealed-weapons licenses; no one under 21 is allowed to receive a permit. There are almost 1.2 million college students in Florida.
State data show that 246,632 Floridians between the ages of 21 and 35 have the permits, according to an analysis of the bill by legislative staff.
Steube said he had worked on the legislation before the shooting at FSU in November, but the attack highlighted the need for the bill. Only the gunman was killed in that incident, though one of the three victims of the shooting was paralyzed from the waist down.
“What I’m trying to do is prevent further loss of life by giving God-fearing and law-abiding citizens who have gone through background checks and all the things they have to do to get a (permit) to be able to defend themselves and their family,” Steube told the committee.
Supporters said current law actually makes students on campus less safe.
“This bill eliminates a possible pool of victims,” said Brant Hargrove, a member of the public who spoke in support of the legislation. “Predators know where victims are. They’re in places where people cannot defend themselves.”
But opponents, including several students and faculty members who showed up to argue against the legislation, said drugs, alcohol and stress prevalent on college campuses made the atmosphere particularly bad for allowing guns.
“I can only imagine walking through mid-terms week or finals week and being afraid, because these people, at times, college students break down, especially when they’re in engineering and in the sciences and mathematics,” said John Quiroz, a 22-year-old political-science student at the University of South Florida. “I just want to remind you all that these are young men and women trying to better themselves. They don’t need … this constant fear of violence being on their college campuses.”
Marjorie Sanfilippo, an associate dean of faculty at Eckerd College, said she often has to deal with angry students — and sometimes asks campus security officials to be on hand. She also pointed out that concealed weapons aren’t allowed at legislative meetings.
“That protects you,” she said. “I only ask that you give us the same respect in college settings.”
But Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said the presencesof drugs, alcohol and parties at college campuses argued for the bill.
“Folks, if you’re living in that kind of environment, you better carry a firearm. Because you could get raped, beaten, or worse,” he said.
Steube’s bill still has to clear the Higher Education and Workforce Subcommittee and the Judiciary Committee before heading to the full House. A Senate version (SB 176) filed by Sen. Greg Evers hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing in any of its four committee stops.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Scott Calls For Tax Cuts On Cell Phone Bills, Cable And Satellite TV
January 21, 2015
Gov. Rick Scott is asking lawmakers to cut taxes on cell-phone bills and cable and satellite television to meet the first half of his re-election campaign’s $1 billion tax-cut pledge.
The proposal, announced Tuesday by Scott, would reduce state tax dollars by a projected $470 million. The governor’s office said it would save about $43 a year for a family that spends $100 a month on cell-phone and cable services, though spending on such services varies widely by household.
“With our cell phone and TV tax cut, every Florida family is saving real money — around $40 a year for spending as little as $100 a month between cell phone, cable and satellite bills,” Scott said in a prepared statement.
Scott’s proposal would reduce what are known as “communications services tax” rates, which are now 9.17 percent on nonresidential landlines, cell phone, and cable services and 13.17 percent on satellite services. The tax has generated about $1.4 billion in annual collections in recent years, according to the Florida Tax Handbook.
Scott was flanked by telecommunications executives while announcing the proposal Tuesday morning at the Seminole County Regional Chamber of Commerce. The proposal got quick praise from business lobbying groups.
“Governor Scott continues to prioritize fostering a business-friendly environment so that our state’s businesses can continue to grow and we continue to attract new and innovative businesses to the state of Florida,” Associated Industries of Florida President & Chief Executive Officer Tom Feeney said in a prepared statement.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers, who have been noncommittal about how much of the state’s surplus they will devote to Scott’s priorities in the budget for the coming year, called Scott’s proposal “a starting point” as they begin to review tax proposals. A final tax-cut package will be negotiated this spring as lawmakers finalize a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
“In my committee, no tax is safe,” House Finance & Tax Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said. “It is the goal of the House of Representatives to find even more ways to decrease the tax burden on Florida’s families.”
Senate Finance and Taxation Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, has pushed similar, though somewhat smaller, measures than what Scott offered.
Hukill, who met with Scott on Monday, said she expects the communications-services tax to be a significant part of any final tax package.
“This is not something that is for a small number of people,” Hukill said. “We have almost as many cell phones as we have citizens in the state of Florida.”
House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, and Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, said Tuesday they had not yet reviewed Scott’s proposal.
Scott made cutting taxes and fees a focus of his two successful election campaigns and his first term in office. Scott and lawmakers last year made about $500 million in cuts, with much of that going to reducing vehicle-registration fees.
The Republican governor touted the fee cuts during last year’s campaign and pledged to make about $1 billion in tax cuts during the next two years.
At campaign stops, Scott maintained support for a number of sales-tax shopping holidays, along with touting plans to cut the communications-services tax, eliminate a manufacturing sales tax, phase out the corporate-income tax and a sales tax on commercial leases and enact a constitutional amendment that would prevent residential property taxes from being increased when home values don’t go up.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Sunny And Warm Today; Rain On The Way
January 21, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
- Today Sunny, with a high near 70. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the afternoon.
- Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 44. North wind around 5 mph.
- Thursday A 30 percent chance of rain after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Thursday Night Rain. Low around 46. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
- Friday Rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 56. North wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
- Friday Night A 30 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
- Saturday A 20 percent chance of rain. Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
- Saturday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 37. West wind around 5 mph.
- Sunday Sunny, with a high near 59.
- Sunday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 42.
- Monday Mostly sunny, with a high near 56.
- Monday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 36.
- Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 55.
Lady Chiefs Celebrate Senior Night With Win Over Catholic
January 21, 2015
The Northview Chiefs earned a 32-30 Senior Night win over the Catholic Crusaders Tuesday.
The Lady Chiefs jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and led 8-4 at the end of the first quarter, but Catholic went on a 12-0 run to take a 12-8 lead in the second quarter. Catholic led 16-14 at the break. The score was tied at 21 heading into the fourth, when the Lady Chiefs outscored Catholic 11-9 to secure the victory.
The Chiefs were led by E’Layzha Bates with 11 points and De’Asia Fountain with 10. Angel Lathan chipped in with 7, and Autumn Albritton had 4.
The Crusaders were led by Titianna Fleming with 11 points.
The Chiefs are off until the district tournament, where they play Holmes County on January 27 at 6:00 p.m. The district tournament is at Baker.
Pictured with Coach Derek Marshman are Northview seniors Megan Bryan, Morgan Ward, Angel Lathan and E’Layzha Bates. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New Florida Prisons Chief Wants More Money, More Oversight
January 21, 2015
In her first appearance before the Legislature since taking the helm of the Florida Department of Corrections two weeks ago, a candid Secretary Julie Jones painted a picture of an understaffed agency embattled by a crumbling infrastructure, skyrocketing numbers of mentally ill prisoners and private health-care vendors who aren’t living up to their contract requirements.
Jones, who came out of retirement after being tapped by Gov. Rick Scott to become the first woman to lead the agency, told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday that she needs more money to fill vacant positions, which she blamed in part for mistreatment of inmates by prison guards.
“Staffing is key to lowering the temperature in these facilities,” Jones said. “It’s going to take all hands on deck and it’s going to take a true change in how we look at the role of the corrections officers and also the expectations of what those corrections officers, what services, they deliver to those inmates. Quite frankly, it’s a service. They’re there to keep them happy and they’re there to keep them healthy … and do it in such a way that they enter the facility in the same way that they exit the facility. And we’re not doing that.”
The staffing boost is part of a wide-ranging agenda Jones laid out that includes possibly terminating or renegotiating contracts with prison health-care vendors, intensive training for guards who deal with mentally ill patients and a “direct line” to the agency’s inspector general, who now answers to Scott’s inspector general Melinda Miguel.
Lawmakers cut nearly $1 billion — and did away with more than 1,000 positions — from the department’s $2.1 billion budget over the past four years, committee Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, noted.
Earlier in the day, Jones told reporters she plans to ask for $17 million to “fully fund” positions now vacant in security and administrative positions and another $15 million to fix what she called a “crumbling infrastructure” that includes one prison that was built in 1913 and is still operating.
After the meeting, Evers, whose Panhandle district includes three prisons and several work camps, put some of the onus on the Legislature for a prison system now under state and federal scrutiny for inmate deaths and corruption. The agency is also grappling with lawsuits from whistleblowers who claim they faced retaliation for exposing cover-ups of inmate abuse. And the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the deaths of more than 100 prisoners who died behind bars.
“I think the Legislature has a cross to bear,” Evers told reporters.
Evers said he was uncertain if Jones’ request for increased staffing went far enough.
“I can tell you how far we will go. We will go to the point that when you go to prison that you will be given the opportunity to enter the Department of Corrections. You will be allowed to rehabilitate yourself … and you will come out alive on the other side and not leave the prison in a body bag,” he said.
Jones also told the committee she was dissatisfied with the privatization of health-care services, ordered by the Legislature in 2011 but tied up in court until 2013. Missouri-based Corizon won a five-year, $1.2 billion contract to provide health care to prisoners in North and Central Florida and Wexford Health Services is being paid $240 million over five years to provide health services to nine prisons in South Florida.
Jones said she is talking with both companies about terminating the contracts, renegotiating the deals or putting them out to bid again.
“The standard of health care with our current providers is not at the level that’s required by their contracts,” said Jones, a former head of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles who was named last month by Scott to take over the Department of Corrections.
Jones veered from testimony her predecessors had given regarding private prisons. Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, asked Jones if it was true that private prisons were able to “cherry pick” cheaper prisoners.
“That is my belief,” she said.
Scott tried to convince lawmakers to privatize a major portion of the state’s prisons two years ago, but the measure failed by a single vote in the Senate.
After the meeting, Jones paused when asked if she “broke the code” by criticizing the private prisons. “I don’t know. I’m a very plain-spoken, honest person. And we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing in order to get this thing fixed,” she said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Kilcrease Signs With Jefferson Davis Community College
January 21, 2015
Atmore Christian School senior Grace Kilcrease signed with Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton Tuesday. Pictured with Kilcrease are her parents Woody and Angie Kilcrease (seated), and Jefferson Davis Coach Misti Nims, Atmore Christian Coach Yoder, Molino Lady Astros travel team coach Donnie Nicholson and Atmore Christian Principal Tim Battles. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
The View: School District To Purchase Corner Lot In Front Of New Ernest Ward
January 20, 2015
Huge library windows are a highlight of the Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill, and the Escambia County School Board is now set to purchase “the view” outside those windows.
The school sits at the corner of Highway 97 and Highway 99A in Walnut Hill, but the school district does not actually own the grassy lot on the corner — in front of those big windows. The school board expected approve paying property owner Linda Faye Tolliver of Walnut Hill $15,000 for the 0.86 acre parcel.
Students are scheduled to begin classes in the new school on February 2. The school board is expected to approve the land purchase during their February meeting.
Pictured top: The Escambia County School District does not currently own the large grassy lot in front of the new Ernest Ward Middle School. Pictured below: This graphic shows the approximate location of the new school in relation to the property to be purchase. NorthEscambia.com photos/graphics, click to enlarge.
Lawmaker Wants Teachers To Make At Least $50K
January 20, 2015
A Central Florida lawmaker has filed a proposal that calls for the state’s public-school teachers to earn at least $50,000 a year.
The proposal filed by Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, points to a need to “attract and retain instructional personnel.” It would require the Legislature to put enough money in the state’s school-funding formula to ensure that districts could meet the salary standard while also having enough money to maintain other programs.
It also would require annual adjustments to the minimum salary based on inflation.
The bill, which would take effect with the fiscal year that starts July 1, does not detail the increased cost of moving to such a minimum salary.
by The News Service of Florida
Bratt Elementary Releases Second Nine Weeks Honor Roll
January 20, 2015
The following students were named to the second nine weeks honor roll at Bratt Elementary School:
ALL A’s
- Rabekah Abbot
- Lauren Abbott
- Ragaen Abbott
- Anna Adams
- Claire Amerson
- Erich Amerson
- Desiray Bagwell
- Haydn Baker
- John Bashore
- Bailey Blackwell
- Karissa Boatwright
- Olivia Boatwright
- Lakyn Bodiford
- Jackson Bridges
- Luke Bridges
- Daylan Brown
- Nevaeh Bush
- Luke Chavers
- Camden Clarke
- Addison Classen
- Abigail Coker
- Shelby Cotita
- Colton Criswell
- Callie Davis
- Trevor Dean
- Carsyn Dortch
- JaCee Dortch
- Mayson Edwards
- Addison Eicher
- Noah Faulkner
- Zykuria Fountain
- Caitlyn Gibson
- David Gilley
- Jamison Gilman
- Emma Gilmore
- Talise Gregson
- Ava Gurganus
- Zane Gurganus
- Kailey Hawkins
- Lean Hetrick
- Sarah Hetrick
- Mary Catherine Hughes
- Gracie James
- Emily Jarvis
- Tristan Johnson
- Ally Jones
- Keeli Knighten
- Laura Laborde
- Kennedy Long
- Adanaya Mondaca
- Carley Moore
- Jaquez Moorer
- Alyssa Moya
- Bentley Van Pelt
- Ally Richardson
- Maggie Scott
- Jackson Simmons
- McKenna Simmons
- Brayden Smith
- Mia Starns
- Kole Stewart
- Maggie Stewart
- Aubrey Stuckey
- Clay Wilson
- Jasmine Zisa
ALL A’s and B’s
- Adam Adams
- Luke Amerson
- Ethan Bingham
- Nalanna Black
- Kyle Blanton
- Abbie Buford
- Jaquorious Burt
- Michael Butler
- Kadence Calvert
- Jakyra Carter
- Zakhel Clemmons
- Noah Condrey
- Chloe Criswell
- Talaysha Curry
- Casandra Davis
- Kylie Davis
- Payton Daw
- Ryan Dove
- Tyteann Dubose
- Gage Eicher
- Scotty Elliott
- J’Kayla Evans
- Jamyla Feagin
- Allison Flowers
- Tessa Flowers
- Aliyah Fountain
- J.P. Gilman
- Shelby Greewell
- Berklee Hall
- Abbie Hardy
- Logan Hasting
- Kara Hawkins
- KayLeigh Jay
- Trent Knighten
- Gage Lambert
- Anna Lee
- Kaitlin Lloyd
- James Loftis
- Jessica Loftis
- Sarah Long
- Houston Lowry
- Max Mason
- Reid McCall
- Keira McDuffie
- Braeden McGhee
- Megan McGhee
- Landon Mooney
- Elianna Morales
- Kai Morton
- Alexis Moya
- Travis Nelson
- Blaize Parrish
- Reagan Peebles
- Cloie Pickern
- Colby Pugh
- Dallon Rackard
- Angel Schoonover
- Treyton Schoonover
- Adrianne Shanks
- Carter Sigafoose
- Arquavian Smith
- Malia Smith
- Mandell Smith
- Zakyla Smith
- Jacob Spence
- Alyssa Stabler
- Reece Starns
- Emily Stilwell
- David Stokes
- Jeremy Thomas
- Madison Thomas
- Corbin Turberville
- Haidyn Turberville
- Raycer Watson
- DaMius Wesley
- Jordan Wilson
- Raylee Wooten
- Joshua Zisa
Joint City, County Storm Water Workshop Set For Thursday
January 20, 2015
The City of Pensacola and Escambia County will hold a joint public workshop to discuss storm water management within the Pensacola Bay Basin, and information regarding flood mitigation options and their associated costs and benefits.
The city and county are jointly applying for up to $500 million in disaster recovery funds through the National Disaster Resilience Competition. Area residents will be asked to comment on those options, providing public engagement for future project selection in local neighborhoods. The presentation will be followed with group discussions and a survey of attendee needs.
The workshop will be held Thursday, January 22 from 5-7 p.m. at the Sanders Beach-Corinne Jones Resource Center at 913 South I Street in Pensacola. For further information, or to request special assistance, please contact City of Pensacola Constituent Services (850) 435-1627 or Escambia County Engineering at (850) 595-3440.